Medicated pad or bandage and method of making the same



Nov. 6, 1962 w. M. SCHOLL ,0

MEDICATED PAD on BANDAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Aug. 21,1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 LEE ZZZ-21" Will/Lam M. Sc/zo/l Z: ldj Nov. 6,1962 w. M. SCHOLL 3,062,210

MEDICATED PAD 0R BANDAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Aug. 21,1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LLZ/E ZZ'Q Will/Lam M 50/201 3,052,219 PatentedNov. 6, 1962 ine 3,062,210 NIEDICATED PAD R BANDAGE AND METHOD OF MAKENGTI-EZ SAME William M. Scholl, 211-213 W. Schiller St, Chicago, ill.Filed Aug. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 756,355 7 Claims. (Cl. 128156) Thisinvention relates to improvements in a medicated pad or bandage and to amethod of making the same, the invention being directed moreparticularly to a pad or bandage highly desirable for the treatment ofcorns, callouses, and like afliictions, although the device may also bemade in the form of a finger bandage for minor cuts and abrasions, allas will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

With certain types of afiiictions, such as corns, callouses, warts, andthe like of which it is desired to effect complete removal, treatmenthas often been indicated in the past by way of the application of amedicament for a period of a time directly to the affiiction, suchmedicament being of a character as to cause deterioration or looseningof the afiiiction so that it gradually disappears or is subject toremoval. In other instances, the application of medicament to cuts,abrasions, and like minor injuries has also been indicated. In the past,many and various types of corn and callous pads, plasters, and bandageshave been developed, wherein the cushioning or pad portion of theplaster or bandage was either treated with a medicament or else amedicated disc could be attached or inserted in a cavity in the plasteror bandage. In many cases, however, with devices of this characterheretofore developed it was sometimes diflicult to apply the medicamentdirectly to the afiiiction, and perhaps of more importance it wasextremely difficult to control the amount of medication used in anyparticular application.

In other instances, difficulty was experienced in maintaining medicationin a plaster or bandage over a period of time against loss byevaporation, wetting, or for some other reason, so that application ofthe desired and indicated amount was in most cases unknown orimpossible. In other instances, these formerly known devices did notprovide adequate cushioning or relieving of pressure from apparel of theafiliction, while at the same time applying medicament to theafiiiction.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the instantinvention to provide a medicated device for attachment to the human bodyover an afiliction, which comprises a cushioning body part containing aedicament for direct application to the affliction, the medicament beingso associated with the body part of the device as to enable substantialpredetermining of the amount of medicament.

Another object of the instant invention is the provision of a medicateddevice for attachment to the human body over an affliction, which devicenot only alleviates pres sure of wearing apparel from the afiliction bytransferring the pressure to healthy tissue around the afiiiction, butalso directly applies a medicament to the afiiiction.

Also a feature of this invention is the provision of a medicated plasteror bandage embodying a body part of foam material impregnated with acongealed medicament.

Still another object of the instant invention is the provision of amedicated plaster or bandage embodying a body part impregnated withcongealed medicament and which is so constructed as to prevent the lossof medicament or the soiling of apparel by escaping medicament in adirection other than towards the afiliction.

Still another object of the instant invention resides in the provisionof a new and novel method of making a medicated plaster or bandage.

Also a feature of the instant invention is the provision of a method ofmaking a medicated pad, plaster, or bandage, in which a cushioning foammember is caused to absorb a melted medicament, and so become fullyimpregnated therewith, after which the medicament is permitted tostiffen or congeal inside the cushioning member whereupon it can beretained indefinitely and full control established over the amount ofmedicament reaching an afiiiction with each application of the device.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantagesof the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will becomeapparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustrationshowing in general the important steps in my novel method of providing amedicated element for attachment to the body;

FIG. 2 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary face view of the materialmaking the element following the procedure indicated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view throughthe structure of FIG. 2, indicating a further step in the method;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of a completed plaster or bandage embodyingimprovements of the instant invention;

FIG. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional View through the structure ofFIG. 4, showing the same in upright position;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged bottom plan view of another form of plaster orbandage embodying principles of the instant invention;

FIG. 7 is a transverse vertical sectional View through the structure ofFIG. 6, taken substantially as indicated by the lines VII-VII of FIG. 6,looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of a strip of composite materialsindicating the procedure utilized in the making or" finger bandages andthe like involving principles of the instant invention; and

FIG. 9 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken substantially asindicated by the line IX-IX of FIG. 8, showing the structure in uprightposition.

As shown on the drawings:

The instant invention may have a number of resultant shapes and sizes,depending upon the various affiictions for which the structure is made.To this end, in FIGS. 4 and 5 I have illustrated a structure highlysuitable for the treatment of corns or callouses wherein it is desiredto place the bandage around a digit, although the same structure mightbe utilized to treat warts on the hand or the like. In FIGS. 6 and 7, Ihave illustrated a circular plaster embodying principles of the instantinvention which may be utilized for corns, callouses, Warts, and othersuch afllictions, and attached to substantially any portion of the humanbody.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, I have illustrated the instant invention in the formof what is commonly termed a finger bandage or the like. These variousembodiments of the invention are not by way of limitation, but merely byway of example to indicate that the resultant medicated device may bemade in substantially any size and shape desired.

Each form of the invention preferably includes a body or pad part offoam material, and preferably the foam material is a thermoplastic foam,polyvinyl chloride foam being highly satisfactory, which foam hasintercommunicating cells therethrough, provides a high cushioning effectin that the material is highly resilient and has great shock absorbingpower, as well as being extremely light in weight. Such material mightalso be heat sealed to join the same to a thermoplastic backing member,such as a polyvinyl chloride unsupported film or a cellulose acetatefilm, etc. It is not essential that the instant invention have athermoplastic film as a backing member or a cover for the body or padpart of the device, but in some instances such may be preferable. Wherean impervious cover is desired, such might also be made of fabric with apyroxylin coating, or any other moisture-impervious material that isfound suitable.

In making the pad or body part of the device, it should be noted thatwhile the individual piece going to make up such body part or device andcut to size might be utilized individually, it is far more economical inmanufacture to utilize a sheet of foam material of indefinite size, suchsheet being designated by numeral 1 in FIG. 1. Preferably a suitablecontainer 2 which may be in the form of a flat tank is filled to apredetermined level with melted medicament as indicated by the dottedline 3 in FIG. 1. For corns, callouses and the like, the medicament maybe an amount of salicyclic acid carried by a suitable vehicle, and forother affiictions the medicament may be what is usually indicated forthe treatment of the particular affliction, all as is apparent to oneskilled in the art. Preferably the bath of medicament is maintained atsufiiciently an elevated temperature to keep the medicament in a liquidstate, or melted. As viewed in FIG. 1, the sheet 1 of foam material ismoved from left to right :by an suitable mechanism. As the sheet entersthe tank, it passes over a guide roll 4, then between a pair of squeezerollers '5 which materially compress the sheet. Near the opposite end ofthe tank is a guide roll 6 and at the top another guide roll 7, by whichthe impregnated sheet is moved. When the sheet is compressed by therollers 5, it is immediately allowed to expand while immersed in themelted medicament, thereby absorbing a quantity of the medicament initself by virtue of the inter-communicating cells in the foam material.This medicament remains in the sheet, and after the sheet leaves thebath of medicament it is either subjected to definite chilling orpermitted to cool to room temperature, whereupon the medicamentcontained in the sheet sets, stiffens, or congeals to such an extentthat it will remain in a solid or semi-solid condition within the sheet.

After the sheet 1 leaves the bath and is subjected to cooling, themedicament 3 is congealed within the sheet and is substantiallyuniformly distributed throughout the sheet, as indicateddiagrammatically at 3 in FIG. 2, although it will be appreciated thatsuch impregnation cannot adequately be illustrated in the drawings, andthere will be a much more uniform content of medicament within the sheetthan is exemplified in the disclosure.

In certain instances, it may be desirable to utilize the medicated sheetor a piece thereof as is, and attach it to the body of a user over anaifiiction by any suitable means. It is preferable, of course, to takesome steps to prevent exudation of the medicament away from theaffliction where it may soil articles of apparel, and to this end I haveillustrated in FIG. 3 the application of a thin impervious cover 8 overthe sheet. The cover, as stated above, may be of any suitable materialsuch as a Waterproofed fabric, or a thermoplastic film and may besecured to the sheet in any suitable manner such as by a cementitiousmaterial.

After the impregnation of the sheet 1, and with or without theapplication of the cover 8, the sheet may be severed by suitable diemeans to provide pad or body portions for various types of plasters orbandages of the desired sizes and shapes.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, I have illustrated a form of corn plaster or smallbandage designed to encircle a digit and cushion the particularafliiction as well as medicate the same. In this. instance, thestructure consists of an elongated backing sheet 9 having apressure-sensitive adhesive under surface it) thereon. A severed blockof the sheet 1, designated 1a, is atached to the backing strip in anintermediate location, and in this instance the pad or body part 1:: isprovided withv a central recess or ape-rture 11. Within that aperture apiece of foam material 12 in the form of a disc, thinner than the pad orbody 1a but treated the same way, is disposed and it may be held inposition by side wall friction or by the adhesive under surface of thebacking sheet. The use of this thinner disc of material is to provideample room for the reception of the afiiiction within the body part 1a.A preferred Way of assembling the structure shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 isnot to rely upon the adhesive under surface of the backing strip toretain the pad or body part la, but to heat seal the body part to abacking strip of thermoplastic film, as indicated at 13 in FIG. 5. Theheat seal seam is preferably such that it will cause a curvate margin onthe body part or pad 1a, thereby rendering it better fitting when thedevice is applied to a digit, and the extended portions of the backingstrip wound around that dig-it to secure the pad in place over theafiliction.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 I have shown a form of structure in the nature of acorn, callous, or wart plaster. In this instance, a thin backing strip14 is utilized which is of substantially circular configuration andWhich may be supplied with an adhesive under surface extending entirelyover the under face of the backing sheet, or on that under face with theexception of a diametral strip. A piece of impregnated cushioningmaterial 1b is mounted on the backing member 14 and extends diametrallythereacross, as seen best in FIG. 6, leaving adhesive faced sideport-ions of the backing disc exposed for contact with the skin of theuser. In the event the backing member has adhesive entirely over itsunder surface and is not of a thermoplastic film, the pad or bodyportion 1b may be attached thereto by the adhesive under surface. Whenthe backing strip or sheet is of thermoplastic film, it is preferable toattach the pad or body part 112 by way of heat seal seams 16- 16 on eachside of the pad.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, I have illustrated how the present invention may beincorporated in bandages of the type commonly referred to as fingerbandages. In this instance a backing sheet 17 of indefinite size may beprovided with an adhesive under surface 18. An elongated strip 1csevered from the aforesaid impregnated sheet 1 may be disposedsubstantially centrally of the backing sheet 17 and secured theretoeither by the adhesive under surface, or in the event that backing stripis of thermoplastic film, the cushion element 10 may be secured theretoby opposed heat seal seams 1919. Finger bandages may then be severedfrom the structure along lines 2%} as shown in FIG. 8. Such assembly,Without the impregnation of medicament as set forth in this application,is more fully set forth in claimed in my copending application entitled,Finger Bandage and Method of Making the Same, filed September 6, 1957,Serial No. 682,554, new Patent No. 3,025,854.

Obviously, the method set forth herein results in the production of aplaster or bandage having a shock-absorbing pad or body portionimpregnated with and containing a known quantity of medicament whichwill be preserved indefinitely. Consequently, it is a simple expedientto apply the plaster or bandage with the pad or body part disposed overan afiiiction, and the medicament will be directly applied thereto, andcomplete control may be exercised over the amount and duration of theapplication of medicament. Equally as obviously, the plaster or bandageherein set forth may be extremely economically manufactured, the cost ofmanufacture being even less than was necessitated heretofore Whereseparate medicated tabs had to be used with various types of corn andcallous pads and plasters. At the same time, by this invention amedicated bandage of the so-called finger bandage type may be providedwith a definite and known quantity of medicament as distinguished fromthe practice heretofore of providing a folded gauze pad which had beensubjected to a wetting by mercurochrome or a similar substance, and thenpermitted to dry, whereupon the amount of effectual medication remainingwas utterly unknown.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effectedwithout departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the presentinvention.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of making a medicated plaster or bandage, including thesteps of squeezing a layer of plastic foam and permitting said layer toexpand while immersed in a melted medicament, removing the foam layerfrom the medicament, cooling the now impregnated foam layer to hardenthe medicament sufliciently to be retained by the foam layer, andsecuring the foam layer in its expanded condition to an adhesivesurfaced backing member for ultimate attachment thereby to the body of auser.

2. The method of making a medicated plaster or bandage, including thesteps of passing a sheet of plastic foam through a bath of meltedmedicament, compressing the foam sheet as it enters the bath andpermitting it to expand while in the bath, cooling the sheet afterremoval from the bath to set the medicament in the foam, cutting a pieceof desired size from the impregnated sheet, and attaching said piece inexpanded condition .to a backing member.

3. The method of making a medicated plaster or bandage, including thesteps of causing a piece of plastic foam having intercommunicating cellsto absorb a quantity of warm melted medicament, cooling the nowimpregnated piece to set the medicament therein, covering one face ofthe impregnated piece with a thin impervious cover, and connecting thecovered piece to a backing member with the uncovered face exposed forultimate attachment to the body of a user.

4. The method of making a medicated device for attachment to the body ofa user, including the steps of causing a piece of plastic foam havingintercommunicating cells to absorb a quantity of warm melted medicament,cooling the now impregnated piece to set the medicament therein,covering one face of the impregnated piece within a thin imperviouscover and then securing the cover intermediately to an adhesive surfacedbacking strip.

5. The method of making a medicated device for attachment to the body ofa user, including the steps of causing a piece of plastic foam havingintercommunicating cells to absorb a quantity of warm melted medicament,cooling the now impregnated piece to set the medicament therein, andheat sealing the impregnated piece to a cover of thermoplastic film.

6. In a medicated pad for bandage, a cushion body of thermoplastic foamof the type that may be electronically heat sealed and hasintercommunicating cells, said body being compressible but immediatelyassuming fully expanded condition in both a wet and dry state whenpressure is removed, a congealed medicament in the cells of said bodythroughout the same, a thin impervious cover comprising a thermoplasticfilm overlying said body, spaced heat seal seams uniting said body andcover in an intermediate location with respect to said cover, said bodyforming a part of the heat seal seams and curving toward the seams, andsaid cover extending beyond said body to hold the body in place over anafiliction.

7. A medicated device for attachment to the human body over anaflliction, comprising a resilient body of thermoplastic foam whichwhile compressible immediately assumes fully expanded condition in botha dry and wet state when pressure is removed, said foam havingintercornmunicating cells therein, a congealed medicament in the cellsof said body throughout the same, a cover sheet of thin material ofgreater area than said body overlying said body and having an adhesiveundersurface to attach the device to the skin of a user, said bodyhaving an opening therein to receive an afiliction, a thinner piece ofthe same foam as said body in said opening, and a congealed medicamentin the cells of said thinner piece throughout the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,057,922 Scholl Oct. 20, 1936 2,599,523 Dorr June 3, 1952 2,703,083Gross Mar. 1, 1955 2,785,106 Mendelsohn Mar. 12, 1957 2,858,830 RobinsNov. 4, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 727,180 Great Britain Mar. 30, 1955

4. THE METHOD OF MAKING A MEDICATED DEVICE FOR ATTACHMENT TO THE BODY OFA USER, INCLUDING THE STEPS OF CAUSING A PIECE OF PLASTIC FOAM HAVINGINTERCOMMUNICATING CELLS TO ABSORB A QUANTITY OF WARM MELTED MEDICAMENT,COLLING THE NEW IMPREGNATED PIECE TO SET THE MEDICAMENT THEREIN,COVERING ONE FACE OF THE IMPREGNATED PIECE WITHIN A THIN IMPERVIOUSCOVER AND THEN SECURING THE COVER INTERMEDIATELY TO AN ADHESIVE SURFACEDBACKING STRIP.
 6. IN A MEDICATED PAD FOR BANDAGE, A CUSHION BODY OFTHERMOPLASTIC FOAM OF THE TYPE THAT MAY BE ELECTRONICALLY HEAT SEALEDAND HAS INTERCOMMUNICATING CELLS, SAID BODY BEING COMPRESSIBLE BUTIMMEDIATELY ASSUMING FULLY EXPANDED CODITION IN BOTH A WET AND DRY STATEWHEN PRESSURE IN REMOVED, A CONGEALED MEDICAMENT IN THE CELLS OF SAIDBODY THROUGHOUT THE SAME, A THIN IMPERVIOUS COVER COMPRISING ATHERMOPLASTIC FILM OVERLYING SAID BODY SPACED HEAT SEAL SEAMS UNITINGSAID BODY AND COVER IN AN INTERMEDIATE LOCATION WITH RESPECT TO SAIDCOVER, SAID BODY FORMING A PART OF THE HEAT SEAL SEAMS AND CURVINGTOWARD THE SEAMS, AND SAID COVER EXTENDING BEYOND SAID BODY TO HOLD THEBODY IN PLACE OVER AN AFFICTION.